Close to, yes,
it’s possible
to detect the grain
in a slither of pine
(not so much the trees –
and never mind the wood)
or the ants’ cave in a clod.
Through such things
we might also glimpse
the big picture,
the epic shot,
the vista
of distant planets,
stars, anomalies,
the warp and weft
of space-time.
Let’s hear it too
for peripheries,
for the almost unnoticed
flap of plastic sheeting
in the wind that looks
like someone waving,
the pepper untouched
on the pavement,
flickers of light
that blaze the windows
of new apartments
as the sun clears
a ridge of houses
and the focus shifts
to a new vantage again.
